About

Washington Heights, aka “Little Santo Domingo.” – According to the 1990 census, The Dominican Community in this area was the largest in the U.S.

There is so much more to Washington Heights than meets the front page of the news. Long considered the cocaine capital of the world, a breeding ground for crime corruption and untamed youth, the borough’s contributions to the world of Hip Hop culture have traditionally gone without notice- but they’re there. Some of the greatest graffiti artists ever to grace the walls of NYC hailed from this area not to mention the countless pioneering DJs the brought hip-hop to the masses through the classic phenomenon known as mix-tapes. Now finally a lyrical presentation has emerged, in the form of Dark.

Who is Dark? Dark is the embodiment of Hip-Hop’s origin as a voice of a desperate people. He is an authentic ghetto story teller whose rhymes are derived from pain, anger lust and love which exists in the hearts of young men and women today, the manifestation of the “infamy” the precedes “The Heights”.

In 1998, Dark began the long road to attain local respect for his uncanny ability to spit. He along with 7 other equally ferocious emcees formed Team Hot and brought themselves instant notoriety by making numerous appearances on the now infamous public access show Mad Ciphas. As a collective Team Hot released 2 hood acclaimed cd’s and gathered a strong grassroots following. It was at this point that Dark saw it as a natural progression for him to work on solo material.

With the release of his first project “Lights Out,” Dark solidified himself as The General of The Heights. He showed the versatile ability to not only convey the street based content that makes up much of his inspiration but also make records that appealed to a much broader general fan base. He continued this on his second release, “The Money Zone.” Legendary emcee/producer Erick Sermon of EPMD fame felt Dark possessed a genuineness that so many of today’s emcees lack and contributed 4 cuts to the project. The project was well received by Djs and bloggers alike and broadened Dark’s fan-base to new levels. Now with TMZ II the goal is to show the world that Darks story is one that needs to be told and heard.

“I just want the world to see our perspective and understand where we come from,” says Dark. For Dominican people living in America, Washington Heights is their own little Santo Domingo. For Dark, it’s a source of strength and creation in his music.